Remembering the Gulf Oil Spill, One Year Later
22 April 2011
Eleven crosses represent the workers who died in the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion
This is IN THE NEWS in VOA Special English.
Last year on April twentieth the Deepwater Horizon oil drilling rig exploded in flames in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven workers were killed. Oil continued to spill from a damaged well head on the sea floor until July. It was the worst offshore oil spill in American history. Officials estimate that nearly five million barrels of oil poured into the Gulf.
Today, the surface of the water looks much like it did before the disaster. Natural micro-organisms in the water helped eat the oil and clean up the spill. Workers also used chemical dispersants to break up the oil.
But John Hocevar, a marine biologist with the environmental group Greenpeace, says most of the oil is still in the Gulf.
JOHN HOCEVAR: "It's in the water. It's on the sediment. It's on the sea floor. A lot of it is washed up into the wetlands. It is still there. It is still being eaten by marine life today."
Tar balls continue to wash up on beaches. And animal rescue teams still treat oil-covered dolphins, turtles and other creatures.
Lisa DiPinto is with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Ms. DiPinto says the effects of such a huge spill could have been much worse. She says tests show that fish and shrimp from the Gulf are safe to eat.
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